Harry Moore was the statewide secretary of the NAACP at the time. He routinely registered black voters. He stood up and spoke out against lynching, which made the couple a target.

“They were the first couple that really took it by the horn. They didn't want to sweep it under the rug,” Mallard said.

Many believe that blast shined a brighter light on the civil rights movement, a movement that greatly affected William Gary.

Gary is the president of the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Cultural Complex, the board that oversees the Moore Memorial Park & Museum in Mims.

Gary dedicated several years of his life to the park, which includes a replica of the Moore home.

Gary wants more people to know about the Moores and the sacrifice they made for freedom.

“The early civil rights movement received a tremendous boost and the interest in their story has just grown by leaps and bounds over the years,” Gary said.

“It's a very emotional thing for me. I grew up in the segregated south, in Mississippi, in the hotbed of civil rights history. So, my ability to get a college education, to be an engineer and work for NASA is a direct result of things they were fighting for back then,” Gary said.

The museum is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Fridays, from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, log on to http://www.harryharriettemoore.org.